It is common practice to align the cutting knives on any size planers to the knife cutter-head. The cutter-heads are constructed of cylinders of various diameters, which contain several knives, and each knife must be positioned at the same cutting depth from the surface of the cutting head. A knife that is improperly aligned may do all the cutting because it extends above all the rest or it may not do any cutting if it is set lower than the other knives in the head. The correct positioning of all knives in the cutter-head insures uniform knife wear and a smooth rotating cutter-head since the head is more accurately balanced during rotation, when all knives are uniformly set. The correct positioning of each knife also produces a smoother planed surface on the wood being worked and the equipment can be safely operated at greater speed, without the knives gouging the wood stock.
The knives are removed periodically for sharpening or other purposes and it is important that they can be quickly changed and aligned to a common setting. The cutter-heads are cylindrical in shape and gaging and measurement are more difficult on such surfaces than they are on smooth flat surfaces.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention related to jigs for the setting of knife blades at a uniform height on cylindrical shaped cutter-heads, and is particularly concerned with setting knife blades on woodworking equipment.
2. Prior Art
Jigs and knife gauges have been available for setting knife blades on cutter-heads. Various models and configurations have been available and some have been known to include self-sharpening attachments.